Drew

Something was wrong. I could see it in every line of her body. She was scrunched in on herself, her arms hugging her own waist. “Are you all right?” I asked softly. What had Alex said?

“Fine.” Her voice was short, clipped even, and full of an anger I didn’t understand.

Without thinking I made to put my hand on her shoulder. She jerked away like I had burned her.

“What’s wrong? You seem like you’re upset.” I wanted to wrap my arm around her but she clearly didn’t want to be touched.

I heard her draw in a shaky breath. “That is the kicker of this whole thing.” Her foot pushed around sand. “You, in some ways, get me the way other people don’t.”

Kicker? What was she talking about? My eyes narrowed as I tried to reason it out. “I’m missing something here.”

“Nope,” her head sunk onto her knees. “I’m pretty sure you knew exactly what was happening. It was me who was missing something. But I’ve figured it out now.”

Dread, cold and hard, filled the pit of my stomach. “What have you figured out?”

She didn’t answer right away and I knew it was bad. But then she raised her head, her eyes meeting mine. “Everything.”

My mouth turned down. I was getting a little sick of the cryptic messages that were keeping us from having a real conversation. “Well then I have clearly missed something because I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“How does it feel to be left in the dark?” Her eyes were slits as her lips pressed into a hard line. “You kissed me last night.”

Crap. She’d figured it out. And she didn’t seem happy. “Was it that bad?”

“Deceiving me?” she practically spit the words.

My mouth hung open. That’s not what I had done. “I didn’t intentionally deceive you.”

“That’s a total pile of crap.” Her voice had risen and I looked around to see who else was around us.

“It is not,” I said much more softly. I felt like I had to tread carefully here. I’d never heard Chloe talk like this and it had me a little worried.

“Then why didn’t you tell me at any other point that it was you?” She was yelling now. That was just great. Exactly how you wanted to girl you liked to react when she found out you had kissed her.

It made my own anger spark. I was about to be rejected in a big way. “Because you thought it was your precious Alex. Always Alex.”

Huffing, she sat up straighter. “So what if I did?”

“What is it about that guy?” My brain buzzed and I rubbed my hands through my hair to shake it away.

“What is it about you?” she fired back.

“You lost me.” I stopped rubbing my own head. Where had tonight gone so completely off the tracks?

Chloe sat up straighter then, every line of her body rigid. “You’re the one who kissed me. Why do you insist on torturing me?”

“So now my kiss is torture? Seriously?” I straightened up too. “Of all the crap things to say.”

“I’m saying crap?” She went up on her knees, her hands coming to her hips. “You are the original trash talker.”

“I’ve already said I’m sorry for that.” I didn’t mean to but I found myself throwing my hands in the air. “How many times does a guy have to say he’s sorry?”

“A few more, I guess, because he keeps being a complete jerk.” She stood and I quickly followed her.

“You’re the one who is yelling at me and I am the jerk?” I was getting mad. I mean, all I had really done was kiss the girl I liked. Why was she acting like this?

She stepped up so she was super close and her face was tilted up to mine. The color was rising in her cheeks from the yelling and suddenly, I wasn’t mad anymore. I wasn’t angry at all. In fact, I wanted to kiss her again. Badly. “Because you haven’t been nice to me nor have you been honest.”

That made me wince. I hadn’t been honest. And I know I’d teased her some last year but it hadn’t been that mean. Had it? She’d seemed fine with it so I didn’t know what had changed. “We can be honest now.”

She gave her head a violent shake. “It’s too late. I don’t want to hear it anymore.”

Then she just started walking away.

“Chlo, wait,” I called. My heart pounded as I took two steps toward her.

“No,” she shouted as she turned back to me. “I don’t want to talk to you anymore. I’ll drive you tomorrow because I said that I would and because I keep my promises, but then we are done.”

“What?” The knot of sick dread tightened. “Done?”

“You’re toxic,” she pointed her finger at me. “And I don’t want any part of that.” Then she turned and walked away.

I’d been about to go after her but her words stopped me dead. Toxic? I was toxic? My heart pounded in my chest. I knew that Chloe, just like Sarah, would decide she didn’t want me. But to say I was toxic? That cut deep.

I didn’t know how I could have ever thought I liked the girl. I hated her. I never wanted to see her again. But I did have to see her and soon. Tomorrow, in fact. This was going to be bad.

* * *

Chloe

How were we going to be trapped in a car together?

I swiped at the tears now leaking out of my eyes. That was actually the least of my problems, though one of the most immediate.

I was desperately trying not to be honest with myself but the truth was, he’d just crushed me. Because I liked him. A lot. It had come with startling reality, that while I only liked Alex as a friend, the jilt I always got around Drew was attraction. And the way we talked. That was affection. No wonder they called it a crush. And I’d had the classic camp crush. Like a fool.

Finally arriving at my cabin, I bolted through the door and charged over to my bed, tossing myself across it, face down. I used my arms to cover my face and then the sobs wracked my body.

It was ugly crying but I didn’t care. I hadn’t even checked to see if Melissa or Haley were in our cabin. I’d been too focused on making it to my bed. If they were, they didn’t say anything as I cried.

How could Drew have done this to me? I thought he’d cared. I thought he’d really shared with me and he liked me for who I was. Even if he didn’t like me the way I liked him, I’d believed we had a connection. I clearly didn’t know anything about love, or whatever this was. No matter how hard I tried, I kept getting it wrong.

I don’t know how long it went on for, and I only distantly heard the screen door when it opened. But after a few minutes someone’s weight next to me made the bed sink down.

“Please just leave me be,” I said, my head still buried in my arms.

“What kind of friends would we be if we did that,” Millie’s soft voice did little to soothe me.

I took a deep breath but didn’t show my face. “Honestly,” I said. “I don’t want to talk about it now. I just want to cry myself to sleep.”

“Do you need me to beat up Drew?” Alex said.

I sat straight up, my eyes blinking several times to clear the blurry lines that were making it difficult to see. Millie and Alex sat side by side on the end of my bed. “You’re not supposed to be here,” I hissed at him.

He gave his usual Alex grin. “Yeah, it would probably be best if you didn’t tell anyone I was in your cabin.”

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“You ran off,” he started, his eyebrows going up. “And Drew stormed off in the opposite direction. That was, of course, after all the yelling.”

“He looked really upset.” Millie bit her lip, her face scrunched in worry.

“Good,” I humphed. “I hope he is.”

She wisely ignored that comment. “What happened?” Millie asked.

I took a deep breath. I must already look terrible but I felt my face heat in embarrassment which could only make me look worse. For a second I considered not telling them but I didn’t know how to work through this one without some help. “He kissed me last night, in the dark.”

I heard them both gasp but they didn’t say anything and so I took that as an invitation to continue.

“I didn’t know it was him and he pretended he was someone else.” Humiliation made me sick to my stomach.

Millie gasped. “I can’t believe that. He tricked you? That doesn’t sound like Drew.”

My face heated and I wiggled in discomfort. “I guess he didn’t trick me. I kind of assumed but he didn’t tell me the truth either when he knew I was mistaken.”

Alex swore softly. “That sucks.” He inched a little closer. “But Drew probably had a pretty solid reason. He’s not a bad guy.”

“He does have a reason.” My shoulders sank. Somehow hearing their confirmation made me feel worse not better. “I don’t know why he hates me so much, but--”

“Drew doesn’t hate you,” Alex interrupted.

Millie reached for my hand. “He doesn’t. He likes you. A lot.”

My lips turned down. “Did he say that?”

“Yes,” they both said at the same time.

For a moment, a little hope made my back straighten but then it slumped back down. Of course Drew told them that he liked me. What else would he say? That he was tricking me for help and a ride to Boston? Yeah right.

I had come to camp so sure this was my summer. In just a few days, it was shaping up to be the worst summer of my life. “I appreciate you guys trying to help, but honestly, I think I am going to go to bed.”

“Are you sure?” Millie asked. “I feel like we should go raid the snack bar and eat-slash-talk all night.”

I smiled a little at that. Millie was a great friend. “I’m sure. I promised Drew I’d drive him up to Boston tomorrow. It’s going to be a long day.”

They both sucked in their breath. Their synchronized responses actually made me smile.

Alex gave me a long look. “I can lend him my car if you don’t want to do this.”

That was really, super nice. For just a moment, I wished that I had actually liked Alex. That we’d gone on our date and that he had kissed me. But I just didn’t feel that way about him. And as I looked at Millie and Alex, I noticed something. The way they didn’t touch. The way they kept giving each other side glances.

It was never going to be me and Alex, but he did make a great friend. “That’s all right. I promised and I will keep my word. But thank you.”

Then I leaned down and wrapped an arm around each of their necks, pulling them toward me and together for a group hug.

“If you change your mind, let me know,” Alex said in a muffled voice. Mostly because my hair was blocking his face.

I appreciated it. I really did. But as he got up to leave, I knew I wouldn’t take him up on it.

Because I had a point to make. How real friends treated each other. And Drew McCabe was going to learn it.